Rituals

Rituals lives up to its name. The tracks on Rotting Christ’s 2016 album, the third in a trilogy that began with 2010’s AEALO and continued on 2013’s Katá ton Daímona Eautoú, feature call-and-response chants in multiple languages, including Latin, their native Greek, Hindi, French and more, laid over powerfully chugging guitar riffs, dramatic synths reminiscent of fellow orchestral black metallers Dimmu Borgir, and pounding drums. The band also delves into Greek music history, covering songs by folk singer Nikos Xylouris and Vangelis’s 1960s-70s prog band Aphrodite’s Child. The music is vivid and dramatic throughout, creating a dark and ominous atmosphere that rarely provides the catharsis one might seek from a metal record. But its relentlessness and utter stone-faced seriousness of purpose are virtues, make no mistake.